Agriculture Bill — New Clause 2 — International trade Agreements: Agricultural and Food Products — Compliance with UK and Word Trade Organisation Standards — 13 May 2020 at 17:15

The majority of MPs voted against requiring new international treaties on the import of agricultural and food products to ensure products imported into the United Kingdom under those arrangements comply with World Trade Organisation safety rules and the United Kingdom's own standards.

MPs were considering the Agriculture Bill^[1].

The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: International trade agreements: agricultural and food products and began:

• (1) A Minister of the Crown may not lay a copy of an international trade agreement before Parliament under section 20(1) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 that contains provisions relating to the importation of agricultural and food products into the UK unless they have first made a statement confirming that—
• (a) the agreement contains an affirmation of the United Kingdom’s rights and obligations under the World Trade Organisation Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, and
• (b) any agricultural or food product imported into the UK under the agreement will have been produced or processed according to standards which are equivalent to, or which exceed, the relevant domestic standards and regulations in relation to—
• (i) animal health and welfare,
• (ii) plant health, and
• (iii) environmental protection.
• (2) A statement under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament.
• (3) Before the first statement under subsection (1) may be made, the Secretary of State must by regulations specify—
• (a) the process by which the Secretary of State will determine—
• (i) that the standards to which any agricultural or food product imported into the UK under a trade agreement is produced or processed are equivalent to, or exceed, the relevant domestic standards and regulations in relation to animal health and welfare, plant health and environmental protection, and
• (ii) that the enforcement of standards in relation to any product under sub-paragraph (3)(a)(i) is at least as effective as the enforcement of the equivalent domestic standards and regulations in the UK;
• (b) the ‘relevant domestic standards and regulations’ for the purposes of subsections (1)(b) and (3)(a)(i).
• (4) The Secretary of State may make regulations amending any regulations made under subsection (3).
• (5) Regulations under subsection (3) or (4) shall be made under the affirmative procedure.
• ...

The rejected new clause went on to define some of the terms used within it.

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Agriculture Bill, Parliament.uk website

Debate in Parliament |